Krista Harrison Peers Into the Intersection of Hospice, Dementia & Care Quality

<p>The concepts that underlie hospice were introduced a few centuries ago but, the modern hospice movement began in London in 1967.</p><p><br></p><p>In 1982 hospice was added as a Medicare benefit. Today, half of all Medicare decedents enroll in hospice, at a total cost of $20.9 billion to Medicare in 2019.</p><p><br></p><p>Hospice has a strong evidence base for improving end-of-life experiences for the recipient and the recipient's family. But there's limited evidence regarding the effects of hospice for people with dementia.</p><p><br></p><p>This is a critical knowledge gap given that one in three adults aged 85 and older has dementia.</p><p><br></p><p>Krista Harrison from <a href="https://www.ucsf.edu/">University of California San Francisco</a> joins <em>A Health Podyssey</em> to discuss how well hospice works for people with dementia.</p><p><br></p><p>Harrison and coauthors <a href="https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/full/10.1377/hlthaff.2021.01985?utm_medium=podcast&amp;utm_source=a+health+podyssey&amp;utm_campaign=june2022issue&amp;utm_term=harrison">published a paper in the June 2022 issue of <em>Health Affairs</em></a><em> </em>assessing the relationship between hospice enrollment and last month of life care quality for Medicare enrollees living with dementia.</p><p><br></p><p>They found that hospice-enrolled people living with dementia had higher quality last month of life care than people who are not enrolled in hospice, with quality levels similar to people without dementia.</p><p><a href="https://www.pubservice.com/backissue/subbi.aspx?CO=PJ&amp;PC=HR&amp;BI=HRI&amp;utm_medium=podcast&amp;utm_source=a+health+podyssey&amp;utm_campaign=44682&amp;utm_content=44682&amp;utm_term=harrison">Order the June 2022 issue of <em>Health Affairs</em> for research on costs, care delivery, COVID-19, and more</a>.</p><p>Subscribe: <a href="https://feeds.transistor.fm/a-health-podyssey">RSS</a> | <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-health-podyssey/id1533852530">Apple Podcasts</a> | <a href="https:/